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Vintage Baseball Cards

rosebud5

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OK, all you current and past collectors lets talk about some interesting stuff.

I'll bet most of you collected baseball cards as a kid only to have your mom throw them away (sorry mom)! Over the recent year, I started collecting vintage cards again. Vintage means after WWII and prior to 1980. I like collecting between 1948 and 1965, with the exception of a few players.

Rule number 1 - Never buy an ungraded (raw) card that costs more than $100. I'm sorry, but some of the sellers are real crooks. They over grade raw cards and it is very hard to tell, especially if your buying over the internet or even on eBay.

Rule number 2 - Before you buy anything that is graded, know what the approximate value of the card is and how much you're willing to spend. Which leads me to my question.

Beckett or PSA pricing for cards? It would be nice if they were consistent, but they are not. Beckett values seem to be about 50-75% higher. Does anyone know why they are so different? Do they look at sales data? The biggest sports card seller is eBay. I dont get it. Both companies offer grading service, but PSA is the market leader. Beckett has been doing the baseball card pricing as long as I could remember.

Vintage cards tend to be expensive and everyone who sells can sometime be ridiculous in terms of their asking price, for those of us why want to buy, we want something we can use as a baseline and one company seems to low and the other to high. Maybe I should just take an average?

Does anyone have an opinion on this?
 

am1

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I do not see the value in them. I have a few thousand from the early 90s. Looking back it was a good experience but expensive.

For adults a few steps above model train collectors.
 

pedro47

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I also collect baseball cards, baseball replica stadiums and baseball plates. Just be careful whom you buy your baseball cards from. I only purchased PSA mint cards in the past. To be honest with you, I have not looked at my baseball collections in over fifteen (15) years or more and I have not purchase a baseball cards in over fifteen (15) years. I am not collecting today’s baseball players cards.

I also collect old O gauge Lionel trains. They are all in their original boxes, along with the transformers and others trains accessories.
Plus, I have a collection of old HO trains that I run on my train tables.
 
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dioxide45

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I do not see the value in them. I have a few thousand from the early 90s. Looking back it was a good experience but expensive.

For adults a few steps above model train collectors.
Cards from the 90s are garbage. Back then, they printed cards to even outpace what was huge demand. People were saying to collect cards and it would payoff well down the road. You can't even give them away today. I had a huge tub under the bed and when we moved. I pulled out the few that I wanted to save. Mainly things that I cherished from my childhood collecting days. The rest were boxed up; a couple complete sets from 1990 and 1991 and a bunch of individual cards. Topps, Fleer, Upper Deck, Donruss. Even that once coveted Todd Van Poppel rookie that was promised to be worth so much money! My wife advertised the rest on Facebook marketplace for $20. To my surprise, someone actually bought them. All those cards that I probably spent a few hundred dollars on netted me $20 after 30 years.

There is a big difference what the OP is talking about and junk cards from the 80s and 90s.
 

bluehende

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As soon as something you collect becomes a thing of value the joy of the hobby is done. Collect what you enjoy no matter what the value. With baseball cards the stories of finding old valuable cards and the value books putting ridiculous prices on current cards brought a lot of people into the hobby. As soon as that happens the supply outstrips the demand of those who collect as a hobby insuring no value in what is collected. I collected beer cans in the 70's and enjoyed the hobby. Then it became a fad with dealers and of course value books published. The hobby ceases to be enjoyable and nearly died. Collect what brings you joy as a hobby and forget about any values.
 

am1

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Cards from the 90s are garbage. Back then, they printed cards to even outpace what was huge demand. People were saying to collect cards and it would payoff well down the road. You can't even give them away today. I had a huge tub under the bed and when we moved. I pulled out the few that I wanted to save. Mainly things that I cherished from my childhood collecting days. The rest were boxed up; a couple complete sets from 1990 and 1991 and a bunch of individual cards. Topps, Fleer, Upper Deck, Donruss. Even that once coveted Todd Van Poppel rookie that was promised to be worth so much money! My wife advertised the rest on Facebook marketplace for $20. To my surprise, someone actually bought them. All those cards that I probably spent a few hundred dollars on netted me $20 after 30 years.

There is a big difference what the OP is talking about and junk cards from the 80s and 90s.

For sure. I have a TVP card. Not sure if I could find it though. Also a few MJ cards which at the time I thought would appreciate. Its possible in time just like as before the the cards will rise in value. I am in no rush to get rid of them even if they remain almost worthless. I just cannot store them where I live with the heat and humidity.

Always possible a long long term play is to keep them in a climate controlled area and outlast the rest.
 

mentalbreak

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Cards from the 90s are garbage. Back then, they printed cards to even outpace what was huge demand. People were saying to collect cards and it would payoff well down the road. You can't even give them away today. I had a huge tub under the bed and when we moved. I pulled out the few that I wanted to save. Mainly things that I cherished from my childhood collecting days. The rest were boxed up; a couple complete sets from 1990 and 1991 and a bunch of individual cards. Topps, Fleer, Upper Deck, Donruss. Even that once coveted Todd Van Poppel rookie that was promised to be worth so much money! My wife advertised the rest on Facebook marketplace for $20. To my surprise, someone actually bought them. All those cards that I probably spent a few hundred dollars on netted me $20 after 30 years.

There is a big difference what the OP is talking about and junk cards from the 80s and 90s.

So true. I loved collecting and with my buddies in this era. My last move I went through and got rid of all that didn’t have meaning to me. I only held on to a couple dozen cards plus a set of autographed cards from the ‘91 Twins. My orthopedic surgeon was the dr for the twins and he helped me get all the signatures. Such fun memories!
 

dioxide45

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So true. I loved collecting and with my buddies in this era. My last move I went through and got rid of all that didn’t have meaning to me. I only held on to a couple dozen cards plus a set of autographed cards from the ‘91 Twins. My orthopedic surgeon was the dr for the twins and he helped me get all the signatures. Such fun memories!
Now those may have some value. Autographed set of the '91 World Series Championship Minnesota Twins! One of the greatest World Series ever played.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/...-time-before-the-dodgers-and-astros-face-off/
 
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pedro47

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There is a nice article on selling your baseball cards collection in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, September 2019 Edition found on a page 15. IMO.

I am not endorsing this magazine ok folks.
 

mjm1

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I collected cards when I was a kid in the 60’s and still have those that I liked best. Those were the days when we would use a clothes pin to attach cards to our bike spokes to make a neat sound. In some cases that proved to be a bad choice.

I also got started again in the 90’s and wasted some money on O’PeeChee cards (I think that was the brand.) Apparently they dumped a huge supply on the market and they became worthless. Donated those to Goodwill. Oh well.

But overall, I have enjoyed collecting things. At some point I may try selling some of them if my kids don’t want them. Sounds like timeshares doesn’t it? Enjoy whatever you have while you have them.

Best regards.

Mike
 

dioxide45

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I collected cards when I was a kid in the 60’s and still have those that I liked best. Those were the days when we would use a clothes pin to attach cards to our bike spokes to make a neat sound. In some cases that proved to be a bad choice.

I also got started again in the 90’s and wasted some money on O’PeeChee cards (I think that was the brand.) Apparently they dumped a huge supply on the market and they became worthless. Donated those to Goodwill. Oh well.

But overall, I have enjoyed collecting things. At some point I may try selling some of them if my kids don’t want them. Sounds like timeshares doesn’t it? Enjoy whatever you have while you have them.

Best regards.

Mike
That is why the pre 1980s cards have value, because people didn't collect them. They used them, traded them and destroyed them. So there is a more limited supply. WHen the 80s and 90s rolled around, people collected them and many still have them to this day. If you walk in to a collectors shop today with 80s or 90s cards, they may look at them to humor you, but except for a few rare cards, they aren't interested. They have so many of their own already.
 

pedro47

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I collected Topps, FLEER and Upper Deck baseball cards because they tend to hold some value over time. I just pulled out my Upper Deck World Series Heroes collections of cards of 90 cards. The New York Yankees, The Brooklyn Dodgers, The Cinn Reds, The Atlanta Braves, The Oakland Athletics, the N Y Mets had some great players playing baseball back in the day in the World Series..

The baseball back than was not juice up liked today's modern baseballs where any hit hard ball will be a homerun LOL..IMO..
 
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dioxide45

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I collected Topps, FLEER and Upper Deck baseball cards because they tend to hold some value over time. I just pulled out my Upper Deck World Series Heroes collections of cards of 90 cards. The New York Yankees, The Brooklyn Dodgers, The Cinn Reds, The Atlanta Braves, The Oakland Athletics, the N Y Mets had some great players playing baseball back in the day in the World Series..

The baseball back than was not juice up liked today's modern baseballs where any hit hard ball will be a homerun LOL..IMO..
Fleer and Upper Deck were big in the 80s and 90s. Upper Deck didn't start making baseball cards until 1989. With the exception of very few, Upper Deck cards are now worthless. Fleer started in the early 80s and suffers the same fate today as upper deck. Destined for the trash can.
 

pedro47

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Dioxide45, Sound liked my Fleer and Upper Deck base cards are liked my Beanie Babies collections they are worthless.:crash::wall::bawl:
 

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The whole Baseball Card thing has changed dramatically. It is now Sports Cards, not Baseball Cards and the newer cards changing hands for big prices either have certified autographs or parts of jerseys affixed to them. I watch in amazement as my Son (age 38) buys one for what I think is an outrageous price only to double or triple his money when he sells it...

George
 

am1

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The whole Baseball Card thing has changed dramatically. It is now Sports Cards, not Baseball Cards and the newer cards changing hands for big prices either have certified autographs or parts of jerseys affixed to them. I watch in amazement as my Son (age 38) buys one for what I think is an outrageous price only to double or triple his money when he sells it...

George

Always another sucker in a boom market.
 

rapmarks

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My husband collected in the late forties and the fifties, but his mother dumped them (or so she said).
In the early eighties my husband and son collected the. When we moved, I packed up 13 packing boxes filled with albums and boxes. The super good cards stayed in our home, the others went in storage. Eventually my son bought a house, and they got sent home along with his Star Wars, legos, and a few other vintage collectibles.
 

dioxide45

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My husband collected in the late forties and the fifties, but his mother dumped them (or so she said).
In the early eighties my husband and son collected the. When we moved, I packed up 13 packing boxes filled with albums and boxes. The super good cards stayed in our home, the others went in storage. Eventually my son bought a house, and they got sent home along with his Star Wars, legos, and a few other vintage collectibles.
Now the legos, that could be worth something!
 

PamMo

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I was amazed by a client who bought a very expensive home in Seattle back in the 1980's by selling a portion of his baseball card collection!
 

pedro47

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I purchased a deluxe edition box of the legos in the early 1970's; the box has never been open and it is still in my attics.:cheer:
 
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